June Kerr (née Greenhalgh; 12 June 1932 – 29 October 2018) was an English-born New Zealand ballet dancer who danced for 11 years with the

Royal New Zealand Ballet The Royal New Zealand Ballet is a ballet company based in Wellington, New Zealand. It was originally known as The New Zealand Ballet Company. History New Zealand Ballet was established in 1953 as an independent charitable trust by Royal Danish ...

Biography

Kerr was born in

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, England, the youngest of three children. She was one of the founding members of the London-based company,

Festival Ballet English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin as London Festival Ballet and based in London, England. Along with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish ...

, which later became the English National Ballet. On 8 December 1956, she married New Zealand ballet dancer

Russell Kerr Russell Whiston Kerr (1 February 1921 – 15 November 1983), was an Australian-born British Labour Party politician. Early life Kerr was born in Sydney, and was educated at the Shore School, the Sydney Church of England Grammar School, and Sy ...

. The following year the couple moved to New Zealand, settling in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

where June Kerr danced with the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 1959 and 1960. In 1962 Kerr and her husband moved to

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...

as Kerr's husband was appointed director of the company. In the 1970s Kerr and her husband moved to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

and established the Southern Ballet Theatre. Kerr died in Christchurch on 29 October 2018.

References

1932 births 2018 deaths English emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand ballerinas People from Southend-on-Sea English ballerinas {{ballet-bio-stub